Welcome news for Streeting as NHS target hit, but sustaining progress will be difficult

Responding to the latest monthly NHS performance statistics, Nuffield Trust Fellow Bea Taylor said:

"The confirmation that the NHS met the interim target on reducing planned treatment waiting times will come as welcome news to the Health Secretary today. It is remarkable that 70% of the progress towards this target since April 2025 has happened during the final two months leading up to the deadline. This reflects a huge last-minute push from staff, but also the £120 million short-term funding boost added over the last couple of months, indicating that the NHS can perform when better resourced.

"It's hard to feel confident that the NHS will be able to sustain this level of progress on waiting times over the coming years to meet the government's headline target of 92% of patients seen within 18 weeks. The NHS is riding on the belief that it can build on the success of recent improvements, but the balance between referrals and treatment over the last year shows that huge waves of patients are flowing onto waiting lists each month, making it difficult for the NHS to work fast enough to keep up.

“In February, a record proportion of patients were told whether they had cancer within 28 days of a referral, but in today’s data for March things have already started going back in the wrong direction. So, progress clearly isn’t linear, and we can’t bank on NHS performance continuing an upwards trajectory after an interim target is met.”